Next Level Baseball’s 18U all-star team concluded a stellar summer in which it went 26-4-2 and won the Prospect Wire and Perfect Game Southeast Regional tournaments.

Having qualified for the Prospect Wire Tournament of Champions this weekend in Tampa, NLB 18U captured the crown by going 2-0 on the campus of the University of South Florida.

NLB 18U first beat Blueprint Baseball 17U 3-2 on Friday, then took down Evoshield Canes 2019 Primetime by a 7-0 score Saturday, sending them to the championship game against IBAHS Knights 18U from Puerto Rico.

IBAHS Knights would have had to win twice Sunday and was low on pitching. The game was called after one inning due to severe weather without a future break, and NLB was awarded the championship title.

Leon rising senior Tyler Borges was named the MVP of the Prospect Wire Tournament of Champions.(Photo: Prospect Wire)

“It has been an awesome summer,” NLB 18U coach Justin Bruce said. “You want your team to go through struggles to be the best they can. We struggled at times offensively, lost some games that made us come together better, and as the summer went on played better and peaked at the right time.”

Against Evoshield, recent Lincoln grad Dallen Leach was 2 for 3 with a two-run double.

Leon rising senior Tyler Borges was named the tournament MVP after going 3 for 6 with two RBI and three runs scored in the first two games, including what proved to be the game-winning RBI during a three-run third inning in the first-game win.

“Dallen is ready to go to college (at New Orleans) and will make an impact as freshman,” Bruce said. “He does all the little things right and is a good person at the same time.

“And Borges, Victor (Castillo), those guys from Tallahassee, do all the small things so much that their name comes up. When you do enough small things, it adds up to something big, and you become the MPV of a tournament.”

Next Level Baseball's 18U all-star team won the 2018 Prospect Wire Tournament of Champions in Tampa.(Photo: Prospect Wire)

TLBR 14U stays unbeaten

To this point, Tallahassee-Babe Ruth’s 14U all-star team has answered whenever it has been tested.

Moving to 10-0 on the summer, TLBR 14U broke a 6-6 tie on Sunday in the sixth inning of the Babe Ruth World Series in Eagle Pass, Texas, scoring five runs over the final two innings in an 11-6 win over Norwalk (Conn.).

TLBR 14U is now 3-0 in pool play with one game remaining against Atlantic Shore (N.J.), today at 11 a.m. It is assured of reaching bracket play and should receive favorable seeding, but it needs to win to be the No. 1 seed.

Boone Hosey started things in the sixth with a pinch-hit RBI single, then pinch runner Tyler Ritchie came home to score prior to Adam Parzych’s two-run double.

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Adam Parzych and Tallahassee-Leon Babe Ruth's 14U all-star team practices at TCC in advance of this week's Babe Ruth state tournament in Tallahassee.(Photo: Brian Miller/Democrat)

Parzych finished 4 for 4 with 3 RBI, having laced an RBI single during a four-run fourth inning.

Will Merrix was 1 for 3 with three RBI and two runs scored, while Kerrick Roberts and Tristan Turner each had two hits, drove in a run, and scored twice.

“That was a really good baseball team that could hit, and we had to really pitch today,” TLBR 14U coach Mike Harrison said via phone. “Baseball is a crazy game with a lot of things you can’t control, but the things we can control are our energy and our toughness. We did those two things today.”

TLBR 15U wins in final at-bat

It took six innings Sunday to get a hit, but when TLBR 15U broke the seal on its offensive struggles against Concord (N.H.) pitcher Jonah Wachter, it took full advantage in its pool play game of the Babe Ruth World Series in Longview, Washington.

Rickards rising sophomore Will Brown singled to center with one out in the top of the seventh, Florida High rising junior A.J. Thorp followed with an RBI single to center with Brown on the move, and TLBR 15U put up three runs in the final frame to score a 3-0 win.

With the victory, TLBR 15U improved to 2-1 in pool play and placed itself in a severely better position to advance to bracket play based on both record and run differential.

"That was a big one," 15U coach Brian Kelley said. "It starts running through your head that if we lose we have to get the next one. Their guy was pitching so well didn't know if we could scratch a run across. But we hung in there.

"We had to get this one today, especially after sleeping on a loss Friday and having a day off."

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WIll Brown plays with the Tallahassee-Leon 15U all-star team during a game against Hamilton County in the Babe Ruth State Tournament at Fred George Park.(Photo: Democrat)

Brown picked up the win with as dominating a pitching effort as Wachter, throwing seven complete and giving up just two hits while striking out four batters and walking one.

After Brown scored on Thorp’s single while breaking for second on a steal attempt, Thorp stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Argene Lynn, who had walked, stole second, took third on Thorp’s wild pitch, and then scored the game’s third run with a straight steal of home.

"It wasn't a hit-and-run (with Brown), but it worked out that way," Kelley said.

"I really wanted to steal home in the game we lost, so we talked about it. They put a lefty in that was slow to the plate, and after the first pitch, Argene looked at me and I said 'OK.' It was easy as pie, actually."

Tallahassee Post 13 American Legion baseball club plays Tallahassee Baseball Club at Leon High School on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Tallahassee Post 13 American Legion baseball club plays Tallahassee Baseball Club at Leon High School on Wednesday, June 20, 2018.

“We’ll just keep getting after it,” T13 coach Wes Singletary said. “I felt like it would be our year, but it doesn’t work out that way sometimes. Next year, the Southeast Region tournament will be in Tampa, and maybe we can get some of the same home cooking North Carolina gets.

“We’ll keep plugging along and try to get (to the World Series) with a lot of the same players from this year.”

Tallahassee Post 13's 18U American Legion team captured its fourth consecutive state title on Sunday.(Photo: Wes Singletary)